Not sure which WI is your particular vendor, but they generally have different sizes of dumpsters ranging from 2 yard, 4 yard, 6 yard and 8 yard [in the green block looking dumpsters] it might actually be fairly economical to look into one for the whole place - it may actually be less than $15 per unit.
This seems like a whole lot of effort, to try to catch & punish someone for breaking the rules, rather than making it easy for people to follow the rules in the first place.
Just contract with the rubbish firm to have a small dumpster for the building, and tell all the tenants that the dumpster is available for their use. Dumpsters are cheaper than individual cans, so a small fee like $2-$3 per month each should cover it. And dumpsters don’t have to be hauled out to the street each week, the rubbish firm will back up to wherever they are. So you will have relieved yourself of that one task each week, as well as all the worry you are putting into this.
Sure. But why would you want to, when you can just catch the Garbage Goblin in the act, seeing as you know the time and place of its arrival?
IF you can catch Garbage Goblin, sure - but if you can’t, well, they just gave you the bag, right?
Right. If it’s in my can, it’s mine.
As for the dumpster idea, I’m toying with it. First thing would be to see what the cost would be. Second would be to figure out where to put it. . .
Last of course, would be to figure out how to keep other folks in the neighborhood from using it!
When you contract for the can, request a lockbar or a locking container [they usually have loops that a lock can be put through]
Lockbars are better - they are permanently locked on the top [there is a mechanism that allows the top tp be opened when it is dumped into the truck] and the sliding doors on the side are lockable by a key or combination lock that you own. [this is for the larger 6 to 8 yard dumpsters] For the smaller 2 or 4 yard dumpsters the lockbar is locked by a padlock that the driver needs to have a key for [generally the lock is rented from WI for a small fee]
But depending on how many tenants you have, an 8 yard can would probably be best. People have an amazing ability to generate trash to fill the size of the can=)
I had someone using my office dumpster for their own garbage. I pulled a bag and found mail, etc with their name. I called the police and they cited the person with theft of “something” (not sure of the term that was used). This was 4 years ago and it hasn’t happened again.
Before you get the cops involved, I’d put out a notice to all tenants that they must use their own garbage cans or action will be taken. Getting someone cited without warning is kind of jerkish. Depending on the cost, the dumpster idea is a great one.
StG
I’d say putting your trash in someone else’s can is the jerkish part. Getting cited for it would be just desserts. If it was one time, fine, but this is repeated.
Why bother? Generally, the charge is the same whether the dumpster if full or nearly empty. So unless the neighbors overfill it so much the rubbish firm charges more, save your worries for other things.
While it’s true that the charge is the same whether it’s full or half-empty, there is an additional charge if the trash is overflowing, which is something we deal with from time to time at the trailer park. If local residents use a small-ish dumpster to ‘dump’ large stuff like furniture.
Our way of dealing with a very similar problem was to go through the trash to see if we could find out whose it was. We found an address a couple blocks away on several items and concluded that these poor folks had lost their trash, so we returned it to them. Put it on their porch. They didn’t try to use our trash can again.
I think this is the best answer. Whenever I hear complaints from people who have a rental property, about the state of the gardens that the tenants don’t look after, I suggest adding the cost to the rent. Then just tell the tenant that they don’t have to tend the garden, someone comes around once a month and does it. Saves both parties a shitload of angst.
Damn, you are the landlord. Find out who it is, contract trash service for them, and jack their rent $20. If not charging works for most tenants works for you, great, but if one in particular is causing problems just deal with it directly.
You are correct. Next time it happens, I will search the bag to find out who’s doing it, and then contract for trash service for them and raise their rent.
I knew I’d get good input here! 
I’m inexplicably quite excited to hear how this turns out. Go norinew!
Well, tomorrow (Tuesday) night is the night I put the can up at the curb. So it’s normally Wednesday morning, when I go to retrieve my can, that there’s a bag of trash in it that doesn’t belong to me (I can tell; I always use the white trash bags; the unidentified trash bag is always black; you’d think they’d at least be smart enough to switch to white trash bags; OTOH, this is back-woods WV! 
).
If it’s there (as it is four times out of five), I’m searching it to see if it’s who I suspect it is. If it’s who I think it is, either her rent is getting raised, or she’s just getting booted. She’s already $100.00 behind on her rent, doesn’t seem to give a damn about it, and is, in general, just a pain in my ass. I’ve been this close to evicting her before. This could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, if it’s her!
Let us know how it goes! I’m bizarrely excited to find out of this tenant gets the boot!
Me, too! Subscribing just to hear the Tale of the Trash.
Not to be discouraging, but a lock on a dumpster does not prevent unfortunate persons from leaving their trash on top of, or next to, the dumpster. I speak from experience - actually, that of my father.
Regards,
Shodan